For America's 250th birthday, Greg Laurie recommends a great film about the man behind the spiritual awakening of our nation. Just as surely as George Washington is our founding father, George Whitfield is our spiritual founding father. Two Georges played a role in founding the United States.
So find out more about George Whitfield in this film that's called A Great Awakening, and we'll send it to you for your gift of any size. Available on DVD at harvest.org. We all have our personal testimony, our story of how we came to Christ and our life changed. But Pastor Greg Laurie says, take care to tell it right. Don't make your past sound better than your present.
I've heard some people say, you know, I used to party, I had money, I had everything, I was great. But then I came to Christ.
Now it's all of a sudden kind of a downer. Like wait. Don't talk about what you gave up for Jesus. Talk about what Jesus gave up for you. This is the day we.
The lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace has pleased us town. But can you give all the angels of singing? This is the day, the day when I begin.
When people hear what Jesus has done for us, they'll see what Jesus can do for them. That's the essence of sharing the gospel. But what has Jesus done for us? If we've lost sight of how our life has changed, it may be time for some soul searching before we go out soul winning. Today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us reignite the passion in our hearts and ignite our afterburners in our efforts to share Christ with those who need to meet Him.
Today's study is from the series called Refresh. Today, the day when life begins John chapter 4, verse 3, we read. Jesus left you there. And he departed again to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. And he came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob's well was there. Therefore, Jesus was tired from his journey, and he stopped by a well. It was around the sixth hour, that would be 12 o'clock noon. And a woman of Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.
For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, would ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. And Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. This is a perfect example of how to build a bridge to a person.
Now, this was an immoral woman. as the story reveals. She had been married and divorced five times, and she was living with some guy at the moment. This is a woman who was ostracized from the rest of the community. She would not have been an educated woman.
She didn't know what the Bible said. And so she was living this Life that was in opposition to what the Bible teaches. But Jesus does not start with that. He appeals first to her spiritual thirst.
So often we want to go right to the lifestyle of the person we're talking to. And I think, in effect, get the cart before the horse. We do need to get to that, and I'll talk about that in a moment. Because I believe in telling the truth to people.
However, Jesus starts by building a bridge, Jesus starts by appealing to her spiritual thirst, he reaches out to her. bringing me to some points now that you might want to write down. The first point is simply this. If you want to evangelize Jesus style, that's what I'm going to call this Jesus style. Because that's what it was.
If you want to evangelize Jesus style, it begins with the burden. Again, verse 4, he needed to go through Samaria. As a matter of fact, he did not need to go through Samaria. It was actually way out of the way. He was leaving his country.
He was going effectively to another country that was populated by people that were known to be the enemies of Israel.
So Jesus leaves his comfort zone, if you will. Jesus leaves his people, goes to this other place, not just to a woman who was a Samaritan, but an immoral woman who was a Samaritan.
So when you want to share your faith effectively, it starts with a God-given concern. You have to care about the soul of a person who is not yet a believer. Second point, if you want to evangelize Jesus style, You need to use tact. I already touched on this earlier. Paul used tact there on Mars Hill.
We should do the same thing. Isaac Newton said, quote, tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy, end quote. And that's a very great way to say it.
Now, the woman. isn't fully Getting what Jesus is saying. And now she starts to effectively argue with him, bringing me to my next point. To share the gospel Jesus style, we must adapt. to the situation.
John 14:15, the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. She's being sarcastic. Oh, yeah, you have water to drink? Oh, sir, give me this water that you're talking about. Jesus effectively calls her out.
He says in John 4, 16, why don't you call your husband to come here? She says, well, I have no husband. Jesus says, that's true. You've had five husbands and you're living with some dude right now. She was like, whoa, how did he know that?
She says, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. See, there will come a moment. When you're engaging in someone, you appeal to their spiritual thirst, but they might ask you a question like, well, look, I'm living with my boyfriend or girlfriend, or, you know, I'm doing drugs. Would I have to give that up to follow Jesus? You might say, well, I don't want to say...
You know, yes, that might Turn him away. No, you need to tell him the truth. Yes, you need to give that up to follow Jesus Christ. You see, sin is keeping you from God.
Now, I don't start with those issues, but I'm not gonna avoid them when I get to them. They need to know that sin separates them from God. But the solution is a relationship with Jesus. The problem is sin, the solution is Jesus. And so Jesus engages her and tells her what she needs to do.
Acts 3:19 says, Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. See, we need to tell people they're sinners and that they need a Savior. Listen to this. The Bible says if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
Next point: if you want to do evangelism Jesus style, you don't deal with everyone in the same way. See, Jesus dealt in a certain way with the woman at the well. And then he dealt in an entirely different way with Nicodemus. Nicodemus says in John 3, The woman at the well is John 4. Nicodemus is a religious, devout man.
John 4 is about and irreligious sinful woman. But the answer was the same for both. They both needed Jesus. With the woman at the well, Jesus engages her, draws her in. Confronts her about her sin and tells her the truth.
With Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night, Jesus effectively cut to the chase. Nicodemus is saying, teacher, we know you're a great man. No one could do the things that you do unless God is with them. Effectively, Jesus says, listen, buddy, let's just get to the bottom line. You need to be born again.
So the point is, we adapt to the person we are speaking to.
Now, after this woman at the well, Here's Jesus. Tell her the truth. She says, Sir, I think you might be the Messiah. He goes, Loose paraphrase, girl, I am the Messiah. You're speaking with the Messiah.
And then we read these words, John 4:28. The woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the man, Come see a man who told me all things I ever did. Could this be the Christ? That brings me to my final point. Telling your story.
or sharing your testimony. is a powerful bridge The gospel message. Again, telling your story, also known as your testimony.
Now, Basically, you just tell people of how you came to faith. You know, sometimes non-believers don't realize we weren't all born this way. You know, people might think, oh, Greg, he's a preacher. He probably was raised in a nice Christian home and learned the Bible from his youth. No, I've told you many times that's not the case.
For 17 years of my life, I lived with my alcoholic mother and Went through her divorces, seven in total. And then I made my own foolish choices in the early days of my youth. And then I heard the gospel and gave my life to Christ.
So you have a story, everyone has a story. And it's a testimony.
So, this is a way of kind of preaching to a person without preaching at them. Let me illustrate. Here's how I might use my story. I might say, well, you know, I was 17 years old, I was using drugs, my life was empty. And I saw these Christians sitting in the front lawn of my high school campus singing about God.
And I thought, These people are crazy. These people, you know, fell off the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. What's wrong with these people? Why do they believe this?
So I'm kind of putting myself in the shoes of the person I'm talking to because maybe that is actually how they feel at the moment. But then I'll go on to say, but then I tried a new thought on for size. What if this is true? And I quickly dismissed it. It couldn't be true.
There's no way it could be true. But again, I thought, what if it's all true? And then a guy got up to speak and he said, Jesus said, You're for me or against me. And I looked at the Christians and I realized I wasn't one of them. And that was the day I prayed and asked Christ into my life.
Now, see, I'm telling the story. I'm putting myself in the way I used to think, which may be the way the person I'm talking to is thinking at present. And I'm showing them the transition, how I got from A to B. And in a way, I'm preaching to them because I'm telling them what the preacher said, but I'm not pointing my finger at them. but I'm building the bridge.
That's the point of a testimony. It builds the bridge. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. You know, I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie.
And I've been to Israel many times and I've led a lot of tours, and I have to say that's absolutely true. Listen, when you're walking on the same stones that Jesus himself walked on, well, that's something that's enriching to your faith. It's not just a travel experience. It actually energizes and enhances your study of the Bible. Think of it this way, it's a vacation with a purpose.
And we're gonna be taking a tour of Israel April 6th to 15, 2027. You can find out more at Israel.harvest.org. Step right into biblical history. Join Pastor Greg for a tour of the Holy Land April 6th through 15th, 2027. Get details at Israel.harvest.org.
Well, Pastor Greg is offering some good encouragement today in his message called The Refreshing Power of Sharing Your Faith, Part 2. Let's continue. Just a few tips about sharing your personal story. Don't glorify or exaggerate the past. Don't glorify or exaggerate the past.
You know, some people, their testimony gets more dramatic with the telling. I've heard some people talk and tell how they came to Christ, and they hear him a few years later. Wow, a lot more stuff is in that story. Did you just remember that or? Are you embellishing it a little bit?
You know, don't make your past sound better than your present. I've heard some people say, you know, I used to party, I had money, I had everything, I had women, I had, it was great. But then I came to Christ, now it's all of a sudden kind of a downer. Like wait Your own life was miserable. Why are you making your old life sound better than your new life?
Someone might be listening to you and thinking, I want your old life, not your new life. I love the way that Paul had perspective. on his past. Paul was a very accomplished individual. Very intelligent.
But he dismissed all of it. He said in Philippians 3, All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ as my Lord, everything I used to think was significant is now insignificant. And then one translation puts it, it's dog dung. The word Paul used is that rude word, excrement.
That stuff, it's like. Pooh. Compared. Compared to what I have now, he says, I've dumped it in the trash.
So I could embrace Christ and be embraced by Him. Isn't that beautiful?
So don't talk about what you gave up for Jesus. Talk about what Jesus gave up for you. I really don't care what you gave up. It's nothing compared to what God has done for you. Talk about how Jesus died on the cross for your sin, how he made the greatest sacrifice of all.
It's not about you, it's about him. And you tell your story only to make a beeline to his story. The greatest story. ever told.
So I have a new acronym for you. Blast. L-A-S-T. And this sort of pulls together some of these things I've said to you. B.
Build a bridge.
So when we're talking to people about Jesus, start by building a bridge. I didn't say burn a bridge. Build a bridge.
L. lovingly enter their world. Another world take an interest in them. That brings me to A. Ask questions.
And listen, don't interrupt them. Ask them lots of questions. S, share your testimony. We just talked about that. Tell them your story of how you came to believe in Jesus.
And finally, T. Tell them how to come to Jesus. Again, B, build a bridge. L, lovingly enter the world. A, ask questions.
S, share your testimony. T, tell them how to come to Jesus. We're almost done. But this is where it breaks down for a lot of people. How do you get the person from A to B?
How do you get them to come to Jesus? You've shared your testimony, you've shared the gospel. How do you pop the question, if you will? It's a little bit like a marriage proposal. I've heard of some pretty amazing and creative marriage proposals.
A friend that proposed to his wife underwater. He had one of those little tablets, you know, you can write underwater, and he wrote, Will you marry me? I've heard of people putting it, you know, skywriting, will you marry me? My wife tells me I never properly proposed. She says we were out having dinner, and I looked at her, and we'd been going out for around, I don't know, two years at that point.
And I said to her, according to Cathy, Well, I guess we're going to get married, huh? And she says, that was my proposal. No getting down on one knee. No, will you marry me? Here's the ring.
No, just, well, I guess we're getting married, huh?
Well, it's kind of weak. But at least I said something.
So you might ask, how do I actually Pop that question. It's as simple as this. After you've shared all those things with the person. You asked them this question. Would you?
like to ask Jesus Christ to come into your life right now. You need to be led by the Spirit. But the Lord might direct you to ask this question at an unexpected time. Let me tell you a story about a man named Roy. My wife Kathy and I would Go take walks in the morning.
And we came upon this older gentleman that was obviously struggling because he would walk. Have to stop. And so we started talking with him. He said, I think I've seen you on TV. I said, yeah, I've been on TV a few times.
And are you a preacher? Yes, I'm a preacher. What's your name? My name is Roy. Oh, my name is Greg.
Nice to meet you, Roy. How are you doing?
Well, he says, I have a heart condition. And my heart actually will hurt. But I'm exercising and I'm doing everything that I can to stay strong. And so I started to share the gospel with Roy. Roy's immediately defensive.
Oh, my whole family is Christian, he says, and they're always telling me to believe in Jesus. But I have a lot of questions about the Christian faith. I said, well, Roy, what are some of them?
So he asks me a couple of the questions and I answer them. And then we say, nice to see you. That day is over.
So the next day we see Roy again. He goes, I have another question for you, preacher. Sure, Roy, fire. And he hits me with the question. I gave him an answer.
I see him the next day. I have another question for you. This went on for kind of a long time. A few weeks actually, with the questions from the skeptical Roy. I wasn't hopeful he was going to believe necessarily, but one day I'm sitting with my wife in our house, and we're actually having a devotion together.
We're reading the Bible and we're praying, and I look out my window, and literally, right. in my eye shot. I see Roy just standing there. And I said, Kathy, I think this is Roy's day to come to Christ.
So I walked out of my house, I walked up, hey, Roy, how you doing? He says, I'm okay, I'm just stopping. My heart's hurting a little bit. He said, Roy, I'm gonna ask you a question. We've had a lot of talks about.
The questions you have, yes? Here's my question for you, Roy. Would you like to accept Jesus Christ right now? He said, Yes, I would. There was a moment.
So I said, let's pray. And I prayed with Roy. It was a beautiful thing.
So I give him a Bible. And then I would see him after that. I knew his family, they were all Christian, and they were all very excited. I heard that Roy had come to Christ.
So I'd see him the next day, and he goes, I was just remembering some of the songs I used to sing in church when I was a little boy. And then I saw him the next day, and he says, My heart's hurting right now, but I'm just thinking of how much pain Jesus went through as he died on the cross. Roy was like growing in his faith, it was amazing. And then for a few days, we didn't see Roy out there walking. And one day we get a knock on our door.
There's a young man standing there and he says, I'm Roy's grandson. I said, yes, he says. I'm sorry to tell you that my grandfather went to be with the Lord. But I want to thank you for sharing the gospel with him. And he loved the Lord, and we had such great times together after he had committed his life to Christ.
And I was so thankful I popped the question. Maybe I can close by popping the question to you. And I'm talking to somebody right now that needs Jesus. And the problem is, is no one has ever told you how. to actually become a Christian.
Let me tell you in the simplest way I can. Let me go back and remind you of something I already said: you're a sinner. Don't take it personally. I'm a sinner. We're all sinners.
We've broken God's commandments. We've fallen short of His glory. God loved you so much, He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins. And then Jesus rose again from the dead, and Jesus is literally standing at the door of your life, and he is knocking, and he is saying, If you will hear his voice and open the door, he will come in.
So, here's my question: Would you like Jesus Christ to come into your life? Right here. Right now. It's as simple as a prayer. I'll lead you in the same prayer.
I led Roy in.
Some years ago. Simple prayer, where you will just say, Lord, I want your forgiveness. I want to have my spiritual thirst satisfied. I want to know that when I die, I will go to heaven. If you want Jesus to come into your life.
If you want that void in your life filled, If you want your guilt taken away. If you want to go to heaven, When you die. If you want to find the meaning and purpose of life, Pray this prayer. With me right now, I'm going to pray it. And you can pray it out loud or you can pray it quietly in your heart.
But would you pray with me? Is pray these words, Lord Jesus. I know that I am a sinner. But I know that you are the Savior. Who died on the cross for me.
and rose again from the dead. Jesus, I choose to follow you. from this moment forward. Be my Savior and Lord. Be my God and my friend.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Such an important prayer were those making a decision for the Lord. And as you've listened to A New Beginning Today, if you prayed along with Pastor Greg Laurie, we want to be the first to welcome you into the family of God. And second, let us help you get started off right.
Let us send you Pastor Gregg's New Believer's Bible. It's a special edition of God's Word that's perfect for those who are new to the faith. It'll answer many of the questions you may have and help you build a strong foundation for your faith.
So ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. or write a new beginning box 4000. Riverside, California, nine two five one four. or go online to harvest.
org and click Know God. And, Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity. And we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further, isn't that right? Absolutely.
When you invest in harvest ministries, You're investing in the souls of men and women. boys and girls, and what is the value of a soul?
Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife? your son or your daughter. Oh, your mommy, your dad.
Or your best friend.
Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable.
Well, listen, God says all souls are mine. God loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with Him. I can't think of a better investment. of my resources, of my money, Than in the work of the kingdom of God.
So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in harvest ministries. As we continue on to fulfill the great commission. Yeah, that's right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org. or write us at a new beginning box 4000.
Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Well next time, as Pastor Greg's series called Refresh continues, we'll learn of the refreshing power of God's Word. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Lorry.
Until the day, the day when life begins.
